For immediate release: Tuesday, February 11, 2014Contact: Fred Glass, 510-579-3343, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CFT Urges Restoration of Local Control to City College of San Francisco

Supports Supervisor Campos’s Resolution Reinstating Board of Trustees

Oakland, CA – The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) today announced its support of Supervisor David Campos’s effort to pass a resolution at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting urging California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice Harris to restore the elected Board of Trustees to City College.

“Voters have a right to representation when it comes to our community colleges,” said CFT President Joshua Pechthalt. “Having an elected Board of Trustees restores the transparency and accountability that students, educators and citizens deserve. Returning the Board of Trustees and local control is the next step to restoring and rebuilding the college. Taking this action will help bring back public trust and confidence, and give hope to people throughout the Bay Area who consider CCSF to be a vital California resource.”

The CFT warned last summer that actions taken by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) and the California State Board of Governors would contribute to significant downward pressure on this fall’s enrollment. The CFT, AFT Local 2121 (CCSF’s faculty union) and a number of other organizations have mounted an aggressive community outreach effort geared to bolster enrollment. With the Board of Trustees back in place, CCSF will be an even stronger, better college.

“Now is the time to restore the authority of the Board of Trustees. San Franciscans should have a voice in decisions that affect the college’s future,” said Alisa Messer, a CCSF English instructor and President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 2121.

“It is unreasonable for bureaucrats and unelected officials from outside San Francisco to be deciding what our college will look like for years to come. That’s the right and responsibility of the San Francisco community and its elected board,” added Rafael Mandelman, member of the CCSF Board of Trustees.

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The California Federation of Teachers represents more than 120,000 education employees in California, from Head Start and community colleges through the University of California. For more information, go to www.cft.org.